Fuck Cory Booker (With Photos)

On one side of Mt. Prospect St. in Newark’s North Ward, Cory Booker gets no love.

In this post is a short account of where the Mayor of Newark currently stands on the right side of Mt. Prospect St .(travelling west). His standing or whether his sliding out of favor is poetic in the sense of classical themes like: love, beauty, chaos, and the divine. There’s also a fifth theme: swag…after all, this is the great, brown city of Newark! Anyway, the slideshow that is featured in this post is my attempt – a damn good one – at photo journalism.

Chatty Footnotes:

1. Two years ago, before I ever had conversations with native Newarkers adamant against Booker’s administration, I was obsessed with teaching Booker’s Angry Letter to Esquire to freshman students at RU. Because the students live and/or commute to Newark, I wanted them to hear a healthy debate about their city. Besides, the letter was a worthy counter-culture to monthly campus crime alerts.

2. When speaking to people born and raised in Newark, and people who have worked here for decades, it’s obvious that people feel Booker has a loaded gun aimed at citizens instead of melted down and turned into a sustainable good or service for residents. The young and the old, the native and the transient, the working and the searching-for-employment alike, think he just doesn’t give a fuck.

3. The accompanying photos were taken on two consecutive days during my early morning walks. About half way through, I was struck by the sight of Booker debris. The sun was higher in the sky now and brighter, and I along with getting my second wind, I could see clearly – busted Booker posters.

4. I stopped to take a few pictures and when a man stops me. He says, “what’s up, what you doing?”

“I’m struck by Booker’s poster in the road!,” I say.

“Yea, that’s right. Let them stay there. Wait, get me too! Look.” The guy steps on a poster. Then, he picks it up and rips it.